This blog is an exploration of principled problem solving which is an initiative at Guilford College encouraging a focus of people's abilities and experiences toward solving real-world problems under the guidance of the college’s core values of community, diversity, equality, excellence, integrity, justice and stewardship.

Ethics of Capitalism

01/03/2014

Ahhh, the crisp clean air, the serene atmosphere, and the
scenic view, all are expectations of a lovely get-a-way in the beautiful
mountains of North Carolina.

Recently, I was privileged to attend a Sullivan Foundation
Service and Social Entrepreneurial retreat hosted by The Algernon Sydney
Sullivan Foundation, held at Kunuga Conference in Hendersonville, North
Carolina. This retreat is designed to bring students together, providing them
with tools to help them think about social issues and ways that they can
possibly create social entrepreneurial ventures or projects to bring about
change. Although the ride there was pleasant and quite
relaxing, as I sat in the front seat of a black minivan, gazing out the window
looking at the trees just beginning to change to their fall colors of yellow,
orange and brown, my body was under the weather and all I wanted to do was
crawl up in my bed and go to sleep. I tried to imagine what the weekend would
bring but the throbbing of the pain in my head would get me no further than the
thought of sleep.

As we pulled into the site, I began to really think about
social entrepreneurship and what this retreat would mean for me. Being that
this was the first time I had attended such a retreat, I didn’t really know
what to expect. All I knew was that I wanted to make a difference and bring
about social change, not globally but in the communities and neighborhoods that
I pass on a daily basis.

The opening night was amazing, from the icebreaker of
playing follow the leader as we all mimicked the facilitator dancing around,
waving our hands in the air, and just being silly, to the community building segment
where everyone had an opportunity to say what they were hoping to take away
from the weekend, to sitting by the fireplace in the fireplace lounge listening
to the facilitators tell us what their intentions were for the weekend, and
finally, to meeting so many motivated young adults all with the mindset of
creating businesses, ventures, or projects all for the cause of social change.
I knew I was in for a treat and although my body wanted to crash, my brain knew
I had to be alert in order to get the most out of the weekend.

Each session that was given provided us with vital
information, such as design thinking, which is “systematic development of
creative ideas that meet real needs in the world,” to understanding the
difference between entrepreneurship, business ventures, and social
entrepreneurship, to making connections. All of the information was
powerful but the part of the weekend that will resonate with me happened during
the open space exercises. This was a time where we broke up into small groups
and talked with a facilitator about one or two specific areas of interest. My
group was interested in finding role models and mentors. Something that stood
out to me was that a role model is not always someone older or someone even
wiser, a role model is someone that is admired by others and inspires one to be
the best he or she can be. A mentor, on the other hand, is a trusted counselor
or guide. Sometimes when you are in search of a mentor, depending on who you
are seeking out, it can be a little intimidating to even approach the person. Some
basic principles that I took away from the retreat are as follows:

Be prepared beforehand.

Have questions ready in advance and practice
them so that you are comfortable with what you need to say.

It is an honor to be asked to mentor someone so as long as
you are prepared you won’t be wasting the time of the person you are reaching
out to.

Outside of being a little under the weather, this retreat
was one that was well worth it. The Sullivan Foundation is doing an amazing job
and I am forever grateful for the opportunity to have spent such a powerful
weekend with so many awesome people. So remember, what goes on in the mountains
with The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Foundation, must definitely be shared with
the world.

12/16/2013

Design thinking: Empathize. Define. Ideate. Prototype. Test.
Or, the “…systematic development of creative ideas that meet real needs in the
world.” This three-hour session at the Sullivan Social Entrepreneurship Retreat
led students and faculty members through the steps needed to try on the mindset
of a designer, specifically in the context of a designer guiding a client
through the process of figuring out what s/he actually wants. This session was
especially related to the topic of Ethics of Capitalism in my mind, because it
stressed the use of empathy to determine problems (a decidedly ethical
approach) – generally, capitalism relies on the business telling you what you
need/want, not the other way around.

The concept
of design thinking was broken down into five individual steps, listed
previously, the first of which was titled “Empathize”. This required the
“designer” to interview the “client”, and immerse themselves in the response,
observe the client’s reactions, and engage with them in an understanding
manner. For example, I interviewed a fellow Guilford student, David Wheaton,
about his college experience: he discussed his transfer from a large school to
a small one, the differences therein, and how he appreciated the open culture
of “thinkers” at Guilford. However, he brought to light some concerns about
diversity, specifically the diversity in athletics in relation to the diversity
of the school as a whole – in his perception, the school needs to bring in more
minorities who aren’t involved in
athletics. I had never analyzed the diversity of Guilford in that manner, so
his opinions were quite eye opening for me. After empathizing, the designers
took a step back to reframe the information gathered from the interview – they
“Define[d]” users, needs and insights in reference to what they discussed with
their clients. (David’s “user” was a junior economics major at a small liberal
arts university, his “needs/insights” were more minorities outside of
athletics, and in the school as a whole.

After
defining the various aspects of the problem brought to light by the interview,
the designers began to “Ideate”, the third step in the process. Through this,
the various groups of students brainstormed ways to help solve the previously
defined problems, with an emphasis on wild, visual ideas that built on the
ideas of the group rather than stemming from a single individual. Once a pool
of on-topic ideas had been formed, the groups were required to pick one idea
for a solution and “Prototype” it – they created a mock version of how the
problem might be solved, and illustrated it in front of the entire group of
“designers” at the conference (in this case, we all performed mini skits illustrating
the problem, and our ideas for a solution). This illustration was the final
step in the Design Thinking process, the “Test” phase, in which students were
encouraged to show their hastily created idea for a solution to the larger
group in the interest of receiving constructive feedback.

The most
useful portions of this session, for me, were the Prototype – Test phases.
Though most problem-solving ideas must go through a development process before
becoming reality, the facilitators of the conference placed a unique emphasis
on “messy” prototyping: basically, the less you develop an idea before you
present it to others, the more receptive you are likely to be to constructive
feedback. However, I felt that the empathize step related most to Ethics of Capitalism
as a whole: empathy is directly tied to ethics (without an understanding of
others, we would have no reason to develop an internal moral code to guide our
conduct in society, because it wouldn’t matter how we understood others and/or
were understood by others). Ethics, on the other hand, is usually completely
separate from modern capitalism, which places profit above all other
considerations; therefore, the fact that the Design Thinking process
highlighted the importance of empathy as the first step to solving a problem was refreshing for me.

12/06/2013

The
Algernon Sullivan Sydney Foundation was founded in 1934 and their mission is to
inspire young people to lead their lives by helping others. The Foundation also
provides scholarships to students who are looking to promote Social
Entrepreneurship. Recently, the Algernon Sydney Foundation developed the
Sullivan Foundation Service and Social Entrepreneurship Program. This way they
can actively engage students, faculty, and staff in all different areas of
Social Entrepreneurship. Earlier this semester, I had the great opportunity to
attend the Sullivan Foundation Conference at Kanuga Conferences Inc. in
Hendersonville, North Carolina. I wanted the experience to learn and create new
ways of helping others with a business lens.

Saturday
night, after our long day of multiple sessions, Matthew Abrams (one of the many
facilitators) led the group in a brain meditation exercise. During the activity
we were supposed to “let go”, and let our brain take us 10 years into the
future. He asked us building questions along the way to get our creative juices
flowing. For instance, a series of questions he asked were, “Where are you
waking up?” “What clothes are you putting on? A suit? Casual clothes?” and
“Look around…who and what are you surrounded by at your workplace?” As we
progressed through the meditating activity I felt that I had an epiphany. In
that moment I realized what I wanted to do in life. I pictured myself working
with a lot of people and wearing a dressy suit to work. Then, it became clear
that I was working in a hotel/vacation industry. I loved it! My resorts I was
imagining were sustainable, welcoming, pet friendly and worldwide. In my vision
I was successful and comfortably wealthy…

Before I
attended this retreat, I did not know what I really wanted to do in life or
what I even had a passion about. The conference/retreat was about Social Entrepreneurship,
which easily coincides with Ethics of Capitalism. Both deal with the set of
moral principles that people should follow throughout their career. However,
the only real difference that I note is Capitalism is mostly based on creating
wealth and maintaining it. Honestly, I feel very strongly about using good values
in the business field and putting others before me, but I want to make money in
the long run to support my future family and I. The way I look at it is you
need to be able to support yourself financially before you can truly help
others.

11/29/2013

Algernon
Sydney Sullivan Foundation’s fall retreat for social entrepreneurship was an
experience I will never forget. Not only did we learn what social entrepreneurship
is but we also learned the benefits of it. One session asked us to identify what kept us up at night.
When originally asked this question by the facilitator it took me a minute to
think of an answer. So many things are on my mind that I think need changing
and narrowing that down to just one thing was hard for me, and when talking to
my peers it was hard for them too.

The
reason I decided to blog about this one session was because of the different
answers that were offered. It was not only amazing how diverse the room was
but the diversity of answers was also astonishing. From child poverty to
ethical reform in South Carolina, the different answers made me think that mine
were menuscule. The first answer that stood out to me the most was when one girl
said “making sure that women across the world can have the right to share their
stories.” Just now, by blogging about this event, I am sharing part of my story
and realizing that many people across the world do not have that simple right
is breath taking.The second answer
that stood out to me was when one girl said, “teen suicide.” I had never
thought about the implications of teen suicide until I sat down with that same
girl and talked about what is happening in our schools across the country when
it comes down to bullying and suicide.

After
thinking hard and listening to others talk about what kept them up at night I finally
decided on an answer.My answer was how
broken the criminal justice system is, especially with cases like Troy Davis and Warren
Lee Hill. I came up with that answer because that issue and those cases still
haunt me today. The Troy Davis case meant a lot to me as do a lot of other
death penalty cases but that case in particular hits home for me. I thought it
would only be right for me to mention that at the retreat, and I got a really
good feedback about it. During the retreat people would come up to me and ask
who Troy Davis was and I got an opportunity to educate them about Troy and the
death penalty in general. I also brought up the Warren Lee Hill case which also
hits home to me seeing that Warren Lee Hill was mentally retarded.

Going
to the retreat with the Center of Principled Problem Solving which is located
at Guilford College where I attend school helped me bond with fellow classmates
but also let us think critically outside of Guilford. This retreat will stay
with me for a long time. This retreat helped me find out what I wanted to do in
life and that anything I imagine is possible. This particular session let me see that other
college students are awake and thinking about solutions to the same problems
that I am passionate about as well. This session also helped put people together
who care about the same things. Whether it was arts and culture or equality and
justice people with the same passions got to come together and share those
passions with other enthused college students. It is an experience that I will cherish for a lifetime.

I did this blog in remeberance of Troy Davis who's last words were to "keep on fighting." I AM TROY DAVIS.

11/14/2013

At
the Sullivan Social Entrepreneurship Retreat one of the biggest concepts taught
was how to answer the question of why we need to do something. While the question of why is quite important,
the answer will not matter unless we are able to connect the answer to other
people. This part of the Social
Entrepreneurship process is called empathy.
Empathy is the ability to understand the feelings of another and when
talking about social change, feelings become quite important. Most real change that a social entrepreneur
may desire can only come about if there is an issue at hand that people feel needs to be changed. Feelings are a strong part of everyone’s
lives and are often what we let be our guide.

An
exercise we participated in at the retreat was one that provided a good example
to me of empathy. We were told to
interview a partner in total of 8 minutes about their college experience. The 8 minutes were split up into two 4-minute
segments and for the first segment I asked my partner about some of the
problems he saw in his college experience. He gave issues such as there is not enough student involvement in
student governmental decisions and not many people talking about the political
world outside of campus.

Honestly, through this part of the interview I
was not very interested in his answers and they did not have much meaning to
me. But then in the second segment I got
more into who this person was. He said
he was the student body president at his college and is a political science
major and suddenly a light bulb went off in my mind. It made sense that this college student had
the issues he had because of who he
was. There was, all of the sudden, much
more meaning to what he was saying and I could empathize and understand his
concerns in a much deeper fashion.

Often
times in American capitalism everyone is so focused on himself or herself. Our current system often requires someone to
put his or her goals and aspirations over another’s. While this may help individual progress,
progression for society as a whole becomes difficult to make. One person may become successful but at some
other person’s expense. Empathy and
seeing the world the way other people see it is not often taught. Missing this aspect of our humanity can and
has been very dangerous because we all have gifts to offer society.

While
there is a definite problem with the lack of empathy within capitalism I do not
believe it is capitalism’s fault. It is
the culture and the people who use capitalism that often create an environment
solely focused on the individual.
Capitalism and any other governmental system can be used in good ways
and bad ways. To me, the problem of the
lack of empathy within America is not capitalism but the people who abuse
capitalism. Regardless of who’s to blame
there needs to be more empathy in America today. Because when we understand each other better
and see where other people are coming from, their issues with the world make
more sense. This understanding I believe
can help solve many of the problems we face as a human race today.

11/05/2013

The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Foundation retreat had as its stated goal
teaching students about social entrepreneurship, giving them tools to
improve and focus their creative ideas, and offering them a boost toward
forming community and world changing groups and businesses. For The Principled Problem Solving Scholars, including myself,
the sessions were rigorous, informative, and fun. A natural result of
bringing together like-minded optimists is that many connections are
made; social, ideological, and personal.

One of my favorite events at the conference happened on the first
night as part of a team building exercise. Gathered in groups in a cozy
community room, complete with wood fire, the students first chose from a
massive collection of eclectic photographs a picture that best
represented, either literally or metaphorically, their vision of their
future as social entrepreneurs. Within the small groups we were asked to
show and explain our pictures and how they related to our vision.

One young lady chose a picture of a mother cheetah with cubs,
explaining that her vision was individualistic and unique, she was at
the conference finding 'cubs' to support her.

Another student chose as his image a picture of adventurers
scaling the Golden Gate Bridge, he felt the image well represented the
risks of putting oneself into the world creatively.

One young man chose a picture of foundational fence post,
believing that his goal was to learn more about the world, creating a
firm foundation upon which to create change.

A picture of an astronaut was the selection of one student, who
felt that the photo depicted a man like him, possibly lost but also
possibly unlimited in options.

Our facilitator, one awesome Matthew Abrams from Mycelium, featured a striking
image of a school of fish, explaining that he felt a sort of unsaid,
unconscious communication between groups of like minded people. A
spiritual connection.

One aspiring artist picked a picture of a man working among
thousands of flooded logs, tying the image to his belief in art as a
primarily solitary activity, and one of endless small workings.

Finally, a wonderful picture of a statue covered in tiny,
flat, donated plates of gold was offered as a metaphor for how many
contributions of small value can result in a collective treasure.

This particular session was unique in that it gave the
students a chance to speak about their particular interests and
aspirations in very specific and personal terms, and within the confines
of groups that were small enough to be comfortable. I can say for a
certainty that I felt closer to the members of my group for the duration
of the trip, knowing just a bit more about how they felt about the
world and themselves in it. It takes little more than a few pictures
and a comfy fire to get people to talk about their lives and futures. Whether or not the Guilford College students at the retreat become
successful social entrepreneurs or simply responsible students and
people, what they can take away is that there are people as hopeful and
bright as they are, and as concerned as they might be about this problem
or another. Talking to each other over a fire, or an image, or a fond
memory, is a good place to start solving them.

11/01/2013

Throughout my adventures as a Financial
Representative for Northwestern Mutual I have learned countless lessons through
both negative and positive experiences. As a Financial Representative it is my
duty to take on clients and give them financial advice in hopes of securing
them a stable financial future. I use the term “financial advice” as an
umbrella term covering everything from estate planning to risk management. Just
as I begin to scrape the surface of some of my daily activities you can imagine
the negative experiences a college student would have giving financial advice
to adults well into their career. While those experiences have been plentiful, I want to focus on the more beneficial experiences that have really made an
impact on me.

The main lesson I have learned is
the value of goal setting. Before my internship, I always had mental
expectations and goals. Achieving these goals satisfied me but I wasn’t
overjoyed. At the same, not achieving these goals bothered me but it didn’t eat
me up inside. While in a board of review with some very successful senior
representatives at Northwestern my schemas towards goal setting began to
change. I studied them and realized what made them successful. They made
ambitious yet realistic goals that they were entirely invested in. They invested
in themselves through their commitment to achieving whatever goal or
expectation they had for themselves. While most of the goals we talked about in
our meeting were financial goals, I could tell these perspectives on
achievement applied to their personal lives as well.

Reflecting on my current
internship thus far, I realize the most important lesson I have learned is
investing in yourself. Your time is your biggest asset and you have to make the
most of it by constantly striving for the next step. I have now learned to
invest in myself by making my efforts in and out of the office valuable. No
more mindlessly hoping to get something done or praying for A in a class. You
have to commit to what you expect of yourself and hold yourself accountable. Doing
so entitles you to limitlessly achieve whatever your heart desires!

10/23/2013

Amidst the aromatic scents of freshly cut grass and blood hungry mosquitoes exists beautiful and bountiful gardens full of curious children. At Crossway Community,the fostering of learning, community, and creativity are highly emphasized.This unique social enterprise is aimed at endorsing communally accountable families and individuals through the encouragement of altruism, inquisition, and self-sufficiency. Crossway Community does a beautiful job at knitting together an array of essential elements that promote lifelong success. Among these indispensable components is one that seemed to resonate within me throughout the entirety of my internship, that component being a genuine attachment to the environment.

Crossway Community offers amenities and programs through three core avenues; Montesorri Programs, the Family Leadership Academy, and the Community Lifelong Learning Center. The Montessori Programs are aimed at promoting symbiotic relationships, encouraging children of varying ages to learn and grow in an environment catered to them, thus allowing them to be the main drivers of their own formation and the pace at which this development occurs. The Family Leadership Academy equips risk susceptible single mothers with the tools to be the best that they can be; as parents, community members, and as fiscally stable individuals. These mothers or “students” of the Academy soon learn to care for the Crossway community as there is a minimal on-site residential component with a three year minimum. This interdisciplinary, cohort model instills a sense of connectedness and a support system for difficult issues that arise within the family structure, shedding light on the incredible resilience of women. The Community Lifelong Learning Center serves as a space for community members to integrate; gathering for meetings, planning future programs,training aspiring organizers etc. The three entities that Crossway consists of are passionate about growth and possibilities, two core necessities of cultivating an ecosystem for positive change.

Gardening and outdoor play are seen as essentials. Maria Montessori believed that learning does not exist solely in the classroom setting. It is such a treat to see the children excited about the plants they grow and the urgency to tell their parents of the bouncing bunnies they ran into outside. Not only is it a joy to see pure excitement from the children when they work in the garden but also the learning opportunities that arise, aiding in the child’s development rather than simply transmitting knowledge to them. The learning outside of the classroom, through work in the garden and outdoor play, allows the students to learn from their peers in the mixed-age setting and communicate effectively to enhance the atmosphere around them, using teachers chiefly as facilitators. Interning at Crossway Community has truly allowed me to look at the world around me in a different light. Nature can be an escape as well as an essential part of an individual’s growth and development. I have really learned to view problems as possibilities using the world around me to overcome any arising difficulty. When you are able to put yourself in the driver’s seat you can get a truer sense of what it means to be accountable for the passengers or community members that are so integral to your journey. Where will you plant your first seed?

08/02/2013

As scientists have proven the
significantly increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the
negative effects that humans have had on the environment, environmental
sustainability has become an ever-growing focus of leaders around the
world. Working as the energy intern at
Mohawk Industries, a carpet manufacturer, I have been able to obtain a first
hand look at what it means to be in environmental sustainability within the
corporate business world. While some
companies enforce their focus of environmental sustainability due to its impact
on the world, the more typical view is as a business strategy. This business strategy is most commonly
related to maintaining competitiveness within that businesses market. With either focus, businesses that view
sustainability and utilize it successfully generally follow a similar pattern.

The first attribute to being
successful with environmental sustainability in the business world is related
to businesses ability to maintain their uniqueness. For many businesses this uniqueness actually
stems from integrating tested and proven technology to increase their
environmental sustainability. The
uniqueness behind this increase in technology is due to which pieces of
technology the businesses choose to invest in and how they market their new
integrated technology. An interesting
example of this evolves from comparing and contrasting the two sustainability
committees that I have been a part of: Mohawk Industries and Guilford College. Both of these committees spend immense
amounts of time and effort on reducing waste from within their organizations. However the contrast comes not with their
goal, but their tactic of accomplishing this goal. Recently, the Mohawk sustainability committee
has rolled out an initiative to meter their consumption of energy, natural gas,
compressed air, and water in order to create historical data of their utility usage. With this data they intend to be proactive
with their ability to recognize any malpractices and areas in which they are
able to cut their consumption. On the other hand, Guilford’s sustainability committee’s waste
projects focus on a minor scale. Two of
their many projects include the dispersal of trays in the cafeteria and
installing no-flush urinals, both of which instantaneously reduced their water
waste. Both Mohawk and Guilford strive to reduce their waste as an
effort to increase their environmental sustainability however both go about
this goal in very unique ways.

With all of the updated technology
being installed, monitoring its progress and effects is a necessity in order to
fully grasp the effect that the technology is having. With this, both hands-on and office work
become a necessity. I discovered the full
potential of how both of these integrate at Mohawk. Some of the projects that I have been a part
of, mainly meter mapping utilities have allowed me to put on a safety vest and
glasses in order to visit manufacturing sites.
This project gave me a solid understanding of the carpet manufacturing
process while allowing me to gain a deeper understanding of this project's goal. Alongside this hands-on experience I have
spent countless hours in front of a computer screen putting together, updating,
and analyzing excel spreadsheets in order to monitor the data that is being
received from this project. While this
half of the project did not stimulate me in any way, I was eventually able to
come to terms with the necessity behind the more monotonous office work in
order to see the success behind this project come to life with quantitative
data of energy reduction.

With the field of environmental
sustainability circulating for about 20 years and the well versed increasing
levels of carbon dioxide being pumped into the atmosphere, it comes as a
surprise that businesses are only now beginning to take environmentally
sustainable practices seriously (with some still ignoring them
completely). However, those who do
realize the necessity to stay alive and competitive in the business world can
seek aid in the developing technology market.
But installing new technology does not immediately qualify as being
environmentally sustainable, utilizing the data that is brought in from this
new technology to understand areas of improvement ups the ante on claiming to
be environmentally sustainable. The
final battle however is turning a business carbon neutral (having zero carbon
emissions). While some businesses have
set goals to become carbon neutral, and even fewer have made strides towards
this impressive goal, it is far from becoming a norm within the business world.

07/26/2013

Government seems
so popular nowadays, especially when you think of the number of young adults
who voted during the last presidential election and of all the new programing on
TV, like HBO’s “Veep”, and NBC’s “Parks & Recs”. Government has been turned nto a hot
new topic of entertainment. However, I found that after interning at the
City of Greensboro’s Planning and Community Development (PCD) Department
under the Better Buildings for Greensboro (BBG) program last summer the
complexity of the work involved was less amusing and a bit more terrifying.
Yet, the presence of Guilford College’s core values in the people I
worked with made my time there feel much more comfortable, and even excited!
These people, despite their demanding and stressful jobs, embodied the
values of Stewardship, Diversity, Community, Equality, Integrity, Justice, and
Excellence in all the work I saw.

The purpose of
the BBG program is simple enough: offer residential, multifamily, and
commercial properties options of initial investment needed to make a home
or business more comfortable and energy efficient by a minimum of 15 percent,
thus allowing them in the future to save money on energy bills and at the same
time improve the environment and community in which they live. This is done by offering a grant or incentive and rebate package to those who apply and
qualify. However, the terrifying part of this story is the insane amount of
separate entities and the colossal number of steps involved in the process.

Believe me, this
isn’t for those who aren’t willing to go through the rigors of accountability.
Integrity is required to ensure the deadlines are met, the questions are
answered, the work gets done, and the program runs smoothly. Also, a
sense of Community must be had, since this opportunity is offered to a variety
of residents who need energy efficiency upgrades to their property or properties,
simultaneously covering wide areas of the County. Finally, you must be
comfortable with Diversity and Equality, not only because the BBG program is
bound by the City’s Equal Opportunity Employment Clause and its
employees are from diverse backgrounds, but because the people it serves are
also representative of different ages, races, socioeconomic levels, and
genders that live in Greensboro.

Stewardship is
the most repeated value I found. Without it, the complexity would
cause this program to fail. For example, the BBG program exists thanks to
a grant given by the Department of Energy (DOE) to the City of Greensboro by
way of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Now, if you
know a little about receiving funds from federal agencies and a little about
the ARRA, you know that there are a lot of strings attached. You can also bet
that there is plenty of reporting involved and that there is high
accountability for the disbursement of those funds, especially when the sum
received is five million dollars. In order to satisfy the demands of the Department of Energy,
the City Manager, the PCD’s Director and the public of Greensboro, the BBG ‘s
strategic plan demanded Excellence.

In conclusion, I
feel my summer internship experience was like a blockbuster movie. I
learned about governmental accounting, business management, business law,
sustainability, and so many more ‪topics ‪that will, without a doubt, help me in my education.
I’m grateful for the opportunity to work next to such an inspiring team
at the Better Buildings for Greensboro.‬

BBG Album

Core BBG team (Valencia Roner, Greg Liggs, Charla Gaskins, and Caitlin Warren from left to right) on a conference call with TrackVia Software Company.

Picture of HEROs (Home Response Energy Officers) conducting a physical count at one of the City's warehouses of the materials supplied in energy packs to homeowners (lightbulbs, thermostats, etc.). HERO Coordinator Greg Liggs at the top of the stairs and HERO Neal Wallace along with a A&T-CERT intern in front of the inventory.